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Quality of life in HIV subtype C infection among asymptomatic subjects and its association with CD4 counts and viral loads – a study from South India

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Abstract

Objective

To study the association between quality of life (QOL) domains and biological markers of disease progression of HIV infection, i.e. viral load (VL) and CD4 counts among asymptomatic subjects with HIV subtype C infection in South India.

Design

Quality of life was measured using the locally validated version of the WHOQOL HIV-BREF. The subjects were neurologically asymptomatic, non psychiatrically ill HIV infected men and women participating in a cohort study.

Results

The results indicated mixed findings, with some QOL dimensions being associated with high VLs and low CD4 counts while several others did not show any associations. Significant associations were seen between low CD4 counts and the psychological and social relationships domain, with lower mean scores in these domains being reported by subjects having CD4 counts <200 /mm. However, there were no significant differences between the CD4 subgroups for the domains related to physical health, level of independence, environment, and spirituality domains. Significant lower mean QOL scores were found in the highest VL subgroup compared to other groups for the following WHOQOL HIV-BREF domains: physical, psychological, level of independence, and environmental.

Conclusions

In this sample of HAART naïve asymptomatic HIV infected subjects, some QOL dimensions were associated with the biological markers of disease progression i.e. VL and CD4 counts, while several were not. The associations were significant only in the high VL and low CD4 groups.

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Acknowledgements

This study is supported by an NIH R01 NS-41205 grant from NIH, USA. We acknowledge the support by all the Research Officers and Co-investigators from NIMHANS, Bangalore, India and University of Miami, USA

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, Bangalore, 560 029, India

    Prabha S. Chandra & Charu Gandhi

  2. Department of Neurology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, Bangalore, India

    P. Satishchandra

  3. Department of Neurovirology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, Bangalore, India

    Anupa Kamat, Anita Desai & V. Ravi

  4. Department of Bio-statistics, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, Bangalore, India

    D. K. Subbakrishna

  5. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Florida, USA

    Raymond L. Ownby & Mahendra Kumar

Authors
  1. Prabha S. Chandra
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  2. Charu Gandhi
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  3. P. Satishchandra
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  4. Anupa Kamat
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  5. Anita Desai
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  6. V. Ravi
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  7. Raymond L. Ownby
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  8. D. K. Subbakrishna
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  9. Mahendra Kumar
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Correspondence to Prabha S. Chandra.

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Chandra, P.S., Gandhi, C., Satishchandra, P. et al. Quality of life in HIV subtype C infection among asymptomatic subjects and its association with CD4 counts and viral loads – a study from South India. Qual Life Res 15, 1597–1605 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-006-9001-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-006-9001-7

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